Security
by ThomE.Gemcity-06
Summary: Tag: RETRIBUTION / Omegaverse / Pt.5 of "Comfort" Series. / SEQUEL to: "EASE" /A belief in one another if nothing else. INCLIUDES: Horatio/Archie slash, Alpha/Beta, Mates, Minor Spoilers.


**Series Note: "** _Omega-version_ **": This series is very thinly knotted in the Omegaverse because I wanted Horatio and Archie to be Mates. There will be no actual Omegas in this verse. Betas will have absorbed some Omega attributes. There will be no mentions of Knots or Heats (sorry). It will focus on Horatio/Archie's love/companionship under the constraints of Navel/life aboard a ship in the events of "Mutiny" & "Retribution". **

**a/n: This is part of my "Comfort" Series. Set in the same universe. Post "Ease".**

 **SEQUEL to: Ease**

 **Tag: Retribution.**

 **Summary:** _A belief in one another if nothing else._

 **Pairing:** Horatio/Archie  
 **Includes: Omegaverse,** Slash, Mates, Alpha/Beta, Minor Spoilers,

—  
 **Horatio Hornblower**  
 **The Adventure Continues:**  
 **Retribution!**  
—

* * *

 **Security:**  
 _something that provides a sense of protection against loss, attack,_  
 _or harm._

 _!_

" _Acting_ Captain has never been a more aptly placed title," Archie noted in utter frustration as he undid his cuffs and started to roll up his waistcoat sleeves. "First a tyrannical, paranoid Captain; now our Acting Captain is a coward. I'm starting to think the _Renown_ is a cursed ship."

"Ease your tone and mute your words," Horatio warned his Mate as he patted his face dry with a towel. "One mutiny is more than enough."

"I'm just saying what we're all thinking," Archie uttered, but said no more as advised. He took his turn at the water basin; cleaning the blood and smoke from his face. It lasted entirely as long as it took his to dry his face and throw himself very unbecomingly of an officer into a chair at the table in the wardroom. "To come to the objective of our mission, only to turn tail as soon as the dons show some claw."

"Buckland will come around," Horatio assured with confidence as he poured them a shot of brandy, setting the glasses on the table as he sat in the chair beside the Lieutenant. "He will realize that returning to Kingston as mutineers may be taken into better light when command knows that we also stuck to the mission and took the fort, opening the channels to safety again."

"You have more confidence in the man than I do at the moment," Archie threw back the shot; it didn't seem to help and just made him want another.

"Command is never an easy thing," Horatio told him, taking a sip of his brandy. "You'll learn that one day soon enough."

"I'll happily take to being _your_ second, when you take command, Horatio." Archie replied. "If there was ever a man fit for command, it's you." He held out his glass briefly in toast. "And I'm not just saying that because you're my Mate." He winked mischievously.

Horatio shook his head, but a small smile grazed his lips. "That notion's a long way off yet." His brown gaze flickered down to his drink. "I'll take this mission's success for now." Archie's gaze was drawn towards Horatio's long fingers as they turned the shot glass by the thin stem, round and round. "I believe that it a reasonable hope for now."

Archie pushed his empty glass aside and reached across the table, putting his hand over Horatio's playing with the brandy. "Why are you always so hard on yourself?" he whispered when Horatio glanced up and met his eyes. "You put yourself to unbearably high standards, and punish yourself on the occasion you do not succeed." He sighed sadly, his fingertips brushing the back of the Alpha's knobby wrist. "I wish you could just see yourself the way I do."

Horatio reached forward, his fingertip under the Beta's chin, raising his dropped face. "I _do_ see the way you look at me," he whispered, "And I know I'm the luckiest man in England. I put pressure on myself to succeed because that's what you deserve—everything I can and cannot give you."

Archie shook his head, taking hold of the hand on his chin, entwining their fingers. "The only thing I need or want is you, Horatio." He pressed his lips to back of his Mate's hand. "As much as I can get of you, for however long God will let me."

Horatio caressed his cheek with bright brown eyes. "We will not have gone this far, doing what we have done to just sail away now. Men have died. Our men. Buckland will come to his senses and the plan will go along."

 _f_

—  
 **Horatio Hornblower**  
 **The Adventure Continues!**  
—

 _Continued in:_ **"SUCCOUR" ...**


End file.
